Robert Asprin - Wartorn Obliteration

His eyes flickered around at the surrounding faces. Now that danger was looming, would they change their minds about waiting for Nievze to locate his sample among the contents of that bag?

"Gods," Ondak said. " Listen to that."

There was a great rumble nearing, booted feet pounding Callah's streets, the rattle of arms. Voices cried out as—presumably—houses were being entered by the soldiers and the inhabitants forced outside.

It would be worse than the last time the Felk had acted so. In fact, the Felk might be slaughtering Callahans indiscriminately, as a reprisal for Abraxis's grisly death. However, Matokin would also know about the bag. He would understand how important it was to get it back.

The Minstrel rose to his feet. "Nievze, are you nearly done? Time is growing short."

From the next room, the wizard said, "I'm working as fast as this can be done. I'm trying—" He sounded slightly hysterical.

The tumult outside was growing closer still. Deo picked up the crossbow and laid a bolt in its groove. The Broken Circle members exchanged grim looks amongst themselves. Radstac put her hand almost casually to the pommel of her sword.

There was suddenly the sound of someone moving about on the roof overhead. The footsteps were soft, but the old rafters creaked nonetheless. Grit sifted down from the ceiling.

"They're on top of us!" Ondak said in a raspy, frightened whisper, ducking his head instinctively.

Aquint finally stood from his seat. This wasn't right. Why would the garrison bother climbing atop the roof?

In the corner of the room's ceiling, a hinged hatchway abruptly came open to reveal a space just large enough to accommodate a person. Aquint hadn't noticed the hatch before. If the expressions of surprise on the faces of the others were any measure, no one else had known it was there either.

When Cat ducked his fair-haired head down through the hole, Aquint was gripped simultaneously with shock, joy, and a strange feeling that the boy's reappearance just now was somehow inevitable.

"Are you hurt?" Aquint asked, hurrying toward the corner, grinning broadly up at his young friend.

"Being shot with a crossbow isn't as much fun as you'd think," Cat said, an uncharacteristic try at humor.

Aquint wanted to whoop with laughter. But there wasn't time.

"Can we get away from here over the roof?" he asked.

Cat, head hanging upside down, nodded. "You'll want to get moving fast."

"I have it!" Nievze suddenly cried out, then came hurrying into the room. He brandished two bloodstained bits of cloth, one the sample that Aquint had just surrendered, the other evidently the one Abraxis had taken from him back in Sook.

Aquint stepped forward. He seized the two pieces of bloodied cloth.

"You're sure?" he asked the wizard, intently.

The man with the grey stubble nodded. "I was trained in this magic. It's what I know."

Aquint continued to search the gaunt face, looking for signs of treachery.

"You will have to trust him, Aquint," said the Minstrel, behind him.

Aquint realized that this was true. He pocketed the blood samples.

"Let's go, let's go!" Ondak was urging, wrestling a chair toward the corner. He hopped atop it, then levered his grunting weight up into the hatchway.

One by one, they swiftly evacuated the rooms. When Aquint finally rolled out onto the roof, he felt the bite of the night air. He heard the large Felk patrol nearing in the street below.

"Keep your heads down," the Minstrel whispered. He was standing by the hatch, making sure everyone got out. Aquint went ahead, catching up to Cat, wanting to put his arms around the boy, but knowing that would only make the lad uncomfortable. He settled for slapping him cheerily on the back.

"I knew you weren't dead," Aquint said, half-lying.

Cat gave him a look that, briefly, was warm and welcoming. Then the boy grimaced and resumed his more normal, stoic expression. He said, "I was able to track you to that granary, then to here." Then he said, pointing, "We're going this way."

Aquint followed, seeing how Cat moved a bit awkwardly, a hand to his side. He hoped the boy's wound wasn't too serious. This rooftop connected to the roofs over the row of craft shops, and these led some distance away from the approaching patrol. The Broken Circle members came after them, everyone hunkered low, moving quickly and stealthily. Nievze was among them, Abraxis's red bag clutched tightly to him.

Frightened voices rose from the street, as people were turned outdoors. If their group could get off these rooftops at the far end, Aquint judged, they could stay ahead of the patrols, long enough to find someplace where Nievze could cast his elaborate blood magic spell.

And after that... what? After that, this whole war might be over. It was a delirious, intoxicating, exciting thought, one Aquint couldn't help but entertain, no matter that his pragmatic instincts told him not to wholly trust this plan.

"You! Up there! Hold!"

Aquint looked back, dread closing over him. The Broken Circle members were rushing toward the roofs' far end, but somebody must have gotten careless. Now the patrol had spotted them.

"Hurry!" Cat said. He had apparently used a ladder to get up onto the rooftops in the first place. It was still leaning against the building's eaves. Gelshiri bounded down it. Ondak followed her over the side immediately. But there wasn't enough time to get everyone down that way.

The Minstrel was still toward the rear. Deo, with his crossbow, was with him. Radstac had reached Aquint near the edge. She looked back now, saw Deo, and reversed course.

"Radstac, don't!" Aquint called, forgetting for the moment that she was partly responsible for Cat being shot.

Cat grabbed Aquint's sleeve. "Come on," the lad said.

He was right, of course. "Everybody jump!" Aquint said to the others, all vying for a chance at the ladder.

As if to demonstrate, Cat nodded and vaulted fearlessly over the edge of the roof. It was a fair distance to the street below, but most would probably survive the fall with a minimum of broken bones.

Aquint took a last look behind. Deo, aiming at the street, fired off his crossbow, then fit it with another bolt. Radstac had drawn her sword. That woman who'd been with the Minstrel at the granary, the one with the amber eyes, was with him now, at his side.

Nievze suddenly stepped in front of Aquint. "I'm frightened!" the wizard said, voice quivering.

Aquint roughly seized Nievze's arm. "Come with me, friend . We still need you to work your magic."

With that, Aquint leapt from the roof, carrying the magic-using Felk deserter down with him.

Life pumped strongly through his veins. Life was there with every breath that moved in and out of his lungs. He surged with it, with its vitality, with its exuberance. He was alive , in every sense.

This was truly the medium of Dardas's life. Finally, this Felk war was delivering what he needed most—an enemy. So far, that enemy appeared to be worthy. There was definitely a tactical intelligence to that opposite army's movements, and in its replies to Dardas's feints and probes. That wasn't some mass of disorganized, armed rabble facing his army out there. Someone, or someones , over there had a knack for military strategies.

Dardas couldn't keep the grin off his face as the field intelligence reports continued to flow in. Never before, in his days of conquering the Northern Continent, had he had such speedy information available to him. He could know within moments how the enemy was responding to a particular thrust. He could have his orders relayed instantly to the various units he wished to mobilize. It was fantastic.

Dardas still had no real explanation as to why Weisel had so suddenly withdrawn from their dual consciousness, leaving Dardas with full command of this body once more. It may very well have been the intense fear the Felk noble had felt. Maybe strong negative emotions weakened one's hold on the shared host body, especially when faced with the equally powerful emotions of joy and expectation that Dardas was experiencing.